NBC 4 Fire Safety

After a two year absence, CAL FIRE returned to NBC LA to teach the news media fire safety class. This is the sixth year in the last eight years that NBC LA has invited CAL FIRE to come in and teach fire safety to the members of the news staff. This year, CAL FIRE San Bernardino Unit Information Officer Bill Peters taught a combination of refresher classes and the four hour certificate class. Since it had been two years since Bill was last there, he proposed to split the instruction so that the new members of the staff that had not received any fire safety training could receive the full class. Those members of the news staff that had gone through the class previously would receive the 90-minute refresher class.
The classes ran for three days, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday August 8,9,and 10. The first five classes were the ninety minute classes with the last three the complete four hour versions. One of the fun parts of the class was the section on fire shelters and getting a volunteer from each class to demonstrate how to properly deploy one. All of the volunteers did very well in their shelter deployment efforts. This is important since the news media face many of the same dangers and hazards that firefighters face while out near the fireline.

Nearly 100 reporters, editors, producers, and videographers attended the classes. Peters said "I have so many friends here at NBC LA that I really enjoy teaching them and renewing their awareness of fire safety." The curriculum includes sections on fire safety, proper personal protective equipment, fire behavior, fire shelters, and the media access law, California Penal Code Section 409.5